As the cost of solar energy continues to drop, the global supply of solar panels—both flat panel and concentrated photovoltaic, for example—continues to increase, benefiting on-grid and off-grid communities to promote the use of solar panels in developed and emerging energy markets. Consequently, an increasing need also grows to optimize these devices so that every individual panel can be generating as much output energy as possible, while minimizing both the up-front system cost as well as the maintenance cost over time for installed systems.
Conventional mechanisms reposition—or track—solar panels to follow the sun, facing the surface at a perpendicular angle to the sunlight to maximize energy collection. Solar panels turning from east to west on a daily basis—while being mounted at an appropriate seasonal angle depending on geographical latitude—are capable of generating up to 40% more electricity compared to a stationary panel on a fixed mount.
One of the most popular methods of repositioning uses active electronics through various means of satellite global positioning, maximum power point tracking algorithms and motors. Passive (e.g., non-electrical) repositioning devices use phase differentials of substances like Freon or wax that change form from liquid to gas as the ambient temperature increases and decreases with the rise and fall of the sun. Some systems also have been proposed to use bimetallic materials or manual adjustment input from the user to control the solar panel rotation. All of these methods not only have a high up-front cost, but also require frequent parts replacements in order to prevent system failure. Solar panel tracking systems provide the greatest economic value when the cost of one tracker is cheaper than the cost of another panel providing the equivalent increase in energy production.
Other designs to reposition solar panels using water displacement have been proposed in the past, but fail to incorporate water filtration into the design. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved system and method for repositioning solar energy collection devices in an effort to overcome the aforementioned obstacles and deficiencies of prior art systems.